The North Central Weed Science Society awarded its highest honor to Stevan Z. Knezevic, professor of integrated weed management in agronomy and horticulture, naming him a 2022 Fellow of the NCWSS at the society’s 77th annual meeting Dec. 7 in St. Louis. Only individuals who have made outstanding contributions to weed science are considered for the yearly award.
Knezevic joined the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1998 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 2004 and became a full professor in 2010.
He grew up in Belgrade, Serbia (former Yugoslavia). He received a bachelor’s degree in plant protection from the University of Belgrade. He moved to Canada where he received a Master of Science in weed science from the University of Guelph. Then, he moved to the United States to pursue doctoral studies at Kansas State University, where he received a Ph.D. in weed science.
His areas of research include developing weed control strategies based on a multidisciplinary approach that builds bridges among scientific disciplines — especially between weed/crop ecology and herbicide technology. For more than 20 years, Knezevic has developed nationally and internationally recognized expertise on Critical Period of Weed Control, dose-response studies and weed flaming, with data analysis on each.
He teaches graduate and undergraduate students including Agronomy 822 Integrated Weed Management and Plant and Landscape Systems 496/Agronomy 896 in Independent Studies.
Knezevic has supervised four postdoctoral fellows and 46 graduate and undergraduate students. He has also hosted 34 international visiting scientists in his lab.
He helps keep crop producers up to date with current weed control issues. During his career, Knezevic has published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 11 book chapters, one training field manual, and was an author/co-author for over 200 oral and 200 poster presentations at scientific conferences in the United States and internationally. He was also an author and co-author for 29 extension publications including an annual Guide for Weed, Diseases and Insect Management in Nebraska, of which he is a senior editor.
He has served as a co-chair and chair of the Weed Biology section of NCWSS and received a total of 24 awards for his research and publications including Distinguish Research Award and Teaching Awards from the NCWSS; Outstanding Young Scientist in Crop Protection from the American Society of Agronomy; The Most Read and Most Cited Manuscript in 10 years in Weed Technology journal; Top-cited Article in 2009 for Weed Technology journal; Internet Tool for Weed Control from the ASA; Innovation Award for Designing Flame Weeding Machine (shared with Nebraska College of Engineering’s George Gogos) from the International Propane Association and Research Council; Excellence in Team Programming from IANR; and Best Extension Publication from the ASA.
